Improvement in breech-loading fire-arms



J. DEELEY- & J. 8. EDGE, Jr Breech-Loading Fire-Arm.

Patented Feb. 25, I879.

Fl cl 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

. 3 Sheets-Sheet 2. J. DEELEY & J. S. EDGE, Jr

Breech-Loading Fire-Arm.

' No. 212,593. Patented Feb. 25,1879.

3 sheets-sheets. J. DE ELEY & J. '8. EDGE; Jr. Breech-Loading Fire-Arm.No. 212,593. Patented Feb. 25,1879.

ginll v h N.PETERS, PHOTO LTHOGRAFH WASHINGTON n c UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

JOHN DEELEY, 0F BIRMINGHAM, AND JAMES s. EDGE, JR, or YARDLEY,

ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 212,593, dated February25, 1879; application filed. October 4, 1878 patentedin England, March13, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, J OHN DEELEY, of Birmingham, in the county ofWarwick, gun manufacturer, and JAMES SrMEoN EDGE, the younger, ofYardley, iu the county of Worcester, England, mechanical engineer, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Breech-Loading Small-Arms, whichimprovements are fully set forth in the following specification,reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

Our invention consists of the improvements hereinafter described inbreech-loading small- ,arms, in which the breech is opened and closed bya vertically-sliding block; and our said invention has reference in partto the slidingblock guns described,represented, andclaimed in thespecification of Letters Patent granted to us in the United States onthe 2d day of June, 1874, No. 151,478, In the sliding-blockgunsdescribed and represented in the specification of the patent referredto, the breech-block is raised and lowered by a trigger-guard lever,which lever is jointed at its middle to the sliding block and at one endto the shoe or body of the gun, the trigger being situated within theguard of the trigger-guard lever and carried by the sliding block.

According to one part of our present invention, we dispense with thetrigger-guard lever, and use in place thereof a hand-lever, which isjointed to the body of the gun and to the sliding breech-block in themanner described with respect to the trigger-guard lever, and we arrangethe trigger-guard and the trigger at the rear of the shoe or body inwhich the sliding block works, the trigger-guard being fixed to aguard-plate forming a prolongation of the shoe or body of the gun. Thischange of position of the trigger with respect to the sliding blocknecessitates the following modification in the arrangement of parts fordischarging the gun: The short arm of the trigger is made to work in andproject through a slot in the rear end of the shoe, and the sear whichengages with the bent in the hammer to hold the said hammer in itscocked position is made in the form of a lever having nearly equal arms,the said sear-lever being jointed at the middle of the sliding block andnear the lower edge thereof. The extreme end of the rear arm of thesear-lever'works in a slot or opening at the back of the breechblock ina position to be operated upon by the short arm of the trigger when thelatter is pulled. The front arm of the sear-lever engages, when thehammer is cocked, with the bent in the said hammer in the usual way.

These improvements may be applied to sliding-block guns in which atumbler or tumblerlever is used instead of a hammer.

By constructing and arranging the parts of sliding-block guns in themanner described the manipulation of the breech mechanism is simplified,and there is a less number of projecting parts on the under side of theblock for the dress of the user of the gun to engage with or catch in.

Our invention consists, further, of the following improvement in thecooking mechanism of vertically-sliding-block guns: Instead of makingthe mainspring of the hammer bear against the back of the hammer, asusual, we make the mainsprin g act upon the hammer at the side thereof.For this purpose we make at the side of the hammer a projection, uponwhich one of the limbs of the mainspring bears. When the hammer iscooked on the descent of the sliding block the said hammer descends onthe side of the compressed mainspring instead of compressing the limb ofthe mainspring before it as it descends, as in the ordinary arrangement.By this means we are enabled to use a much shorter block and shoe thanwhen the mainsprin g bears against the back of the hammer, as usual.

Our invention consists, further, of the following improvements inconstructing and working the extractors of vertically-sliding-blockguns: The forked extracting-levers of the said guns are ordinarilyworked by the bottom of the sliding block when it has fully descended inthe shoe, striking the said lever and turning it on its joint.

In constructing the said forked extractinglevers according to ourinvention we provide the said levers with an additional arm, situatednearly in the same plane as one of the forked arms of the lever, andhaving nearly the same length. The additional or rear arm of theextracting-lever is situated withinthe hollow sliding block of the gun,the front of the said block being furnished with a slot, which worksupon the said additional arm on the rising and falling of the block.

When the block has been depressed in its shoe sufficiently far to openthe breech the topof the block strikes against the top of the additionalrear arm of the extracting-lever, and turns the said lever on its centerand causes its fork to extract the empty cartridgecasein the usual way.

Instead of operating the extracting-lever described by the action of thetop of the block on the additional arm, the said extracting-lever may beoperated by a pin or stud on the inside or outside of the block actingupon the additional arm of the extracting-lever.

We will now proceed to describe, with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, the manner in which our invention may be performed.

Figures 1 and 2 represent side elevations, with a portion of thebreech-shoe removed, of a vertically-sliding-block gun constructedaccording to the first part of our invention, Fig. 1 representing thesliding breech-block raised in its shoe and the gun ready for discharge,and Fig. 2 representing the said breech-block depressed in its shoe andthe breech open for loading and the hammer cocked. Fig. 3 represents alongitudinal section of the gun, Fig. 2, taken through the breech-block.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts.

a, is the barrel of the gun, and b is the body or'shoe, in a mortise oropening in which the hollow breech-block 0 slides. The said breechblock0 contains or incloses the hammer d, its mainspring 6?, and thesear-lever 6 6 and its spring 0 The breech-block c is raised and loweredin the shoe b and the hammer d cocked by the hand-lever f, jointed atfto the front end of the block 0, and also at f to the swiveling arm orlink g, the latter being jointed at g to the body or shoe 2) of the gun.

The hammer cl is carried by the hand-lever f, the said hammer turning onthe same jointpin or center, f as that by which the breechblock 0 isjointed to the said hand-leverf. (See Fig. 3.)

When the hand-lever f is depressed for lowering the block 0 and openingthe breech, the hammer d, by the descent of the hand-lever, is broughtinto its cocked position, and held in that position by the sear-lever eengaging with the bent in the said hammer, the parts remaining in therelative positions described until the breech is fully opened, as seenin Fig. 3.

On lifting the hand-lever f for closing the breech the cooked hammer iscarried with it, and is liberated by the action of the trigger, in themanner hereinafter described.

The trigger-guard h and trigger t are situated atthe rear of the body orshoe 1), the

said trigger-guard h being fixed to the guardplate 70.

The short arm i of the trigger t has the form represented in Fig. 3, andworks in a slot, 1, in the rear of the breech-shoe.

The sear-lever e 0 upon which the trigger acts to discharge the gun, iscarried by and has the position in the block 0 represented in Fig. 3.Its short arm, 0, engages with the bent in the hammer d, and its otherand longer arm, 6 passes to the rear end of the breechblock 0, and itsend works in a slot, m, in the said rear end of the block.

When the block 0 is raised in the shoe 1) for closing the breechpreparatory to the discharge of the gun, the end of the arm 0 of thesearlever e e is situated immediately in front of the short arm, 4 ofthe trigger i, and when the trigger i is pulled its short arm, 6 raisesthe long arm, 0 of the sear-lever, thereby disengaging its short arm, 6,from the bent in the hammer d, and the latter falls by the action of itsmainspring and discharges the gun. p is the extracting-lever, operatedby the falling block a when the latter has descended sufficiently far toopen the breech. A safety-bolt at q, on the side of the hand-leverf, theacting part of which bolt is situated under the short arm, 0, of thesear-lever, is used for preventing the lifting of the sear-lever and theaccidental discharge of the gun. The handlever f is fastened in itsraised position against the under side of the breech-block c by thespring-catch 4 taking into a notch, s, at the rear end of the block.(See Fig. 3.)

The gun is opened for charging by depress ing the hand-lever f into theposition represented in Figs. 2 and 3. The breech is thereby opened, thehammer cocked, and the empty cartridge-case extracted. After a freshcartridge has been introduced into the barrel the hand-leverf is raisedinto the position represented in Fig. 1. The breech-block containing thecocked hammer is thereby raised in the breech-shoe and the breechclosed, and the gun is ready for discharge.

The construction and arrangements of parts described and represented inFigs. 1, 2, and 3 may be applied to sliding-block guns in which atumbler or tumbler-lever is used instead of a hammer.

Fig. 4 represents in longitudinal section, and Fig. 5 in elevation,partly in section, the breech end of a vertically-sliding-block gun ofthe kind described and represented, provided with the cooking andextracting mechanisms hereinbefore described as constituting the secondand third parts of our invention. In Fig. 4 the gun is represented readyfor firing, and in Fig. 5 the breech opened for charging. Fig. 6represents the hammer separately, and

Fig. 7 represents the extracting-lever separately. I

Instead of making the mainspring t bear against the hammer d at the backthereof, as in the previously-described arrangement, we give themainsprin g the position in the breechfork c to start the empty case.

block represented, and we make one of the limbs of the said mainspring tbear upon a projection, to, at the side of the hammer. When the hammerdis cooked and the breech opened by the depression of the hand-lever f,the said hammer descends on the side of the said mainsprin g t,compressing the said spring by the action of the side projection it uponit, as will be understood by an examination of Fig. 4: of the drawings.By thus arranging the mainspring with respect to the hammer a shorterblock and shoe can be used than when the mainspring bears against theback of the hammer.

o is the forked extracting-lever, turning on the center c and situatedat the mouth of the barrel, as usual. The said extracting-lever isrepresented separately in Fig. 7. It has at its rear end an additionalarm, w, the position of which, with respect to the fork c, is best seenin Fig. 7. The additional arm w of the extracting-lever n is situatedwithin the hollow I sliding block 0, as seen in Fig. 5, the front of thesaid block being furnished with a vertical slot, which works upon thesaid additional arm w on the rising and falling of the said block. Whenthe breech-block c is depressed in its shoe sufficiently far to open thebreech the top of the said block strikes against the top of theadditional rear arm, w, of the extracting-lever, as illustrated in Fig.5, and turns the said lever on its center 11 and causes its As the blockfarther descends the top of the slot inthe front of the said blockstrikes the arm to at in near the center on which the extractor turns,and thereby causes the extracting-fork o to complete the extraction ofthe empty cartridgecase from the barrel.

The additionalrear arm, w, of the extractinglever may be operated by apin or stud on the inside of the breech-block instead of by the top; orthe additional rear arm, 10, may be situated outside the breech-block,and be operated on the descent of the said block by pins or studs on theoutside of the said block.

The parts of the gun, Figs. 4 and 5, which we have not described areconstructed, worked,

and act in the manner described with respect -to the gun, Figs. 1, 2,and 3, and corresponding parts are marked with the same letters ofreference.

Although we have shown our arrangements for compressing the mainspringof the hammer and for extracting the empty cartridge-case in combinationwith a verticallysliding-block gun constructed according to ourinvention, yet we wish it to be understood that the said arrangementsmay be applied to verticallysliding-block guns generally.

Having now described the nature of our invention and the manner in whichthe same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood that we claimas our invention or improvements in breech-loading small-arms of thekind called vertically-sliding-block guns 1. As an improvement in thefire-arm patented to us by Letters Patent dated June 2, 187 4,andnumbered 151,478, the sliding breechblock-operating lever jointed tothe breechblock and to the body or shoe of the gun in substantially themanner therein described, curved outward at its free end, in combinationwith the trigger and stationary triggerguard, located back of thesliding block on the body or stock of the gun, substantially as hereinset forth, the curved portion of said hand-lever conforming to the shapeof the trigger-guard, as specified.

2. As an improvement in said fire-arms having verticallysliding breechblocks which carry the hammer and sear-lever, and in combination withsaid parts, the stationary trigger-guard, fixed to the gun-stookror bodyback of the sliding block, and arranged to protect the trigger pivotedon the gun-stock, the said trigger being adapted to operate thesear-lever carried by the sliding block, substantially as set forth.

JOHN QEELEY. [L. s] JAMES SIMEON EDGE, JR. [L. s.]

Witnesses:

RICHARD SKERRETT, HENRY SKERRETT, Both of 37 Temple Street, Birmingham.-

